It is, of course, the right of all registered voters to support the party they feel best represents their interests.

But on the other hand: Good God, what have you done? In Ireland and Britain - and to a lesser extent in the North - we have seen a worrying lurch towards extremism.

Some Irish voters decided the future of the country lay in the hands of a party led by a man who, just before polling day, was arrested over the murder of a mum of 10.

And British voters put their trust in a party described as racist and full of "swivel-eyed loons".

Even in the North, where tribal loyalties generally leave moderate, reasonable parties in the cold, a new low (or, if you're a swivel-eyed Republican loon, a new high) was achieved with the election of a man linked to IRA dissidents, who are still actively trying to kill people.

Now, I understand the desire to seek revenge on those who shot our economy in the back of the head and buried it on a beach.

But in both Ireland and Britain the perps - Fianna Fail and Labour - are both out of power.

Instead, the nations' fury has been directed at coalition governments lumbered with their predecessors' foul-ups - and, in particular, at the junior partners.

Both Irish Labour and the UK's Liberal Democrats were expected to provide some balance in government, to ensure the harsh measures required for recovery did not fall unfairly on the poor and defenceless.

But they proved to have limited control over their bigger and more powerful partners, and their pusillanimity (yes it is a real word) has been soundly punished.

Political commentators will no doubt point out that most democratically-elected governments suffer this sort of mid-term horse-whipping.

And we weren't putting people into positions of any real power, just councillors to look after the removal of dog mess from our streets and impotent MEPs to suck out some of the billions of euro washing around Europe.

So perhaps we felt it was safe to scatter our votes around like bullets from a machine gun.

But next year in the UK – and in 2016 in Ireland - we have got to vote properly, for real politicians with real power.

Perhaps by then our anger will have subsided and we will treat our votes like guided missiles rather than shrapnel.

If we don't, we may end up putting our countries instead of just our councils into the hands of the swivel-eyed loons.